Where Have All The Brokers Gone?

"'Business here is just not quiet; it has dropped dead over the past few weeks,' [one broker] said. 'At the same time, there's a flood of inventory on the market. We run open houses, we run advertisements, but nothing works. There are no buyers, and without buyers, there are no sales.'

...the plethora of inventory on the market can be seen in the outburst of open houses. In a Sunday advertisement earlier this week, for example, one Bellmarc ad featured 87 open houses. In contrast, two years ago there were virtually none as brisk demand quickly snapped up any available inventory.

In recent years it's estimated that the ranks of brokers expanded nationally by more than 200,000 at new and existing real estate firms. With the housing slowdown accelerating, many more career changes are likely.

In effect, the end of the current real estate boom is also signaling the end of the seemingly nonstop national flight into the real estate brokerage business by those folks who figured such an entry was practically a guarantee of a lucrative six- or seven-figure annual income."